Lyceum Series Presents Expert on Historical Tunings

by Richard Veit

Music historian and performer Owen Jorgensen will present a lecture-recital at Baylor University at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 8, in Roxy Grove Hall.
His presentation will open with a sampling of Pythagorean tuning--including a performance of "Hoson zes," the world's oldest known complete musical piece written by Seikilos. He also will survey the more familiar tunings used by such renowned composers from the classical/romantic period as Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin.
Jorgensen joined the faculty of Michigan State University in 1960 and proceeded to develop the world's first bachelor of music degree program in piano technology in 1981. His third book, Tuning: Containing the Perfection of Eighteenth-Century Temperament, the Lost Art of Nineteenth-Century Temperament and the Science of Equal Temperament, was published by Michigan State University Press in 1991 and immediately garnered an "Outstanding Academic Book" award from the American Library Association. The international Piano Technicians Guild honored him with a Hall of Fame Award in 1994.
This lecture-recital is free and open to the public. For more information, call the School of Music at 710-3991. The Baylor Lyceum Series is funded annually by the Meadows Foundation of Dallas.